Question from LO McC: “What are your thoughts on the NRA’s increasing role in politics – saw the story in the New York Times“.

Score Card Answer: My view is we need special interest groups and it naturally follows that they try to persuade issues. They speak for their membership who do not have time to individually pursue the issues. What I do not like is fierce tribalism, that being, our tribe is more important than this country. The special interest groups, quite naturally, follow this method at times and I measure this by rhetoric that states there is no other correct view. When anyone closes the door to compromise, will not hear and take into consideration the opposite view, I suspect the fierce tribal method is winning over what might be best for us all, this country. We need to listen to one another, consider the arguments, find some middle ground and possibly compromise. The historical pattern for how we got where we are today is through progress which means progressive ideas. Problem is, so many people were raised with old ideas and will not change. It just might be one of the unintended purposes of death to ensure progress moves forward. The NRA gun issue is a toggle switch. You are either for or against people carrying guns. Those toggle issues take a long time to change; will not happen in our life time. The best we can hope for is if the world become a safer place, countries form economic alliances much like Europe, societies solve the crime issues and this results in the NRA becoming slowly irrelevant because we no longer think of external threats and need a gun.